Hadith record

4. Muhammad ibn Yahya has narrated from Ahmad ibn Muhammad from abu Yahya al-Wasitiy from certain persons of our people who has said the following: “Once abu ‘Abdillah (a.s.), was asked about the case of Zoroastrians, if they had a prophet. He (the Imam) said, ‘Yes, they had a prophet. Have you not heard about the letter of the Messenger of Allah (sw) to the people of Makkah? He asked them to accept Islam, otherwise, war is declared against you. They wrote back to the Messenger of Allah (sw) asking him to receive al-Jizyah and leave them to worship their idols. The Prophet (sw) wrote to them, ‘I receive al-Jizyah only from the people of the book.‘ They then wrote to him to rebut him, ‘You think that you do not receive al-Jizyah except from the people of the book, and then receive al-Jizyah from the Majus (Zoroastrian) who have migrated?‘ The Prophet (sw) wrote to them, ‘The Majus had a prophet, but they killed him. They had a book, which they burnt. Their prophet brought them a book on twelve thousand skins of bull.‘“

Translation: Muhammad Sarwar — attributed by Thaqalayn·The Arabic above is the original.